Persian MS 854 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For other copies of the Khamsah of Amīr Khusraw held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 198, 214, and 228
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 to 4 columns with 20 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.
Decoration
Five variant richly illuminated scalloped domed headpieces commence each work, with lines outlined in cloud bands and interstices infilled with gold wash and embellished with floral scrollwork on each double-page opening.
Illumination:
- Page 1a:
130 × 128 mm. - Page 91:
140 × 125 mm. - Page 205:
130 × 125 mm. - Page 293:
142 × 125 mm. - Page 379:
140 × 125 mm.
Ruling: Margins ruled in gold outlined with thin single interior and double exterior black lines, and surrounded by another interior single green, outlined with thin double black interior lines, all surrounded by single red and blue exterior lines.
Inscriptions:
- The first right flylead a side numbered ‘D. F. 12’ and a price of ‘£8/18/6’ at bottom both pertain to former owner Duncan Forbes' catalogue. A pencilled list of the contents appears twice, also in Forbes' hand.
- Page 0, top, signed by former owner Edward Galley adjacent to his seal impression.
- Page 0 also bears a lengthy description of the author adjacent to a seal impression with the name of Muḥammad ‘Alī.
- The fore-edge and tail edge bear the title written in nasta‘līq script.
Binding
Probably rebound Bushehr former owner Edward Galley.
Resewn, unsupported, with edges trimmed and endbands likely twined at head and tail, now lost. Covered in full maroon goatskin leather over pasteboards, flush-cut, with a flap, and defined joints (Type II binding per Déroche).
Boards decorated with recessed central scalloped mandorlas with detached pendants blocked in silver, now tarnished, and cornerpieces and cornerpieces of black shagreen leather. All bear brightly hand-painted flowers and foliage, known as mīnāyī (enamelled) due to the shiny appearance of the paint. For another example held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 37. See also Mihan as well as Bayānī and Ardakānī on this style. The fore-edge flap exterior bears three impressions of the same cartouche bearing a hemistich that probably reads:
‘ روان و دوات و زبان و قلم ’. Board margins and interior doublures ruled in yellow, as well as yellow vegetal scrollwork on the fore-edge flap interior.
341 × 219 × 54 mm.
Handle binding with caution. Exterior wear to the decoration, and scuffing on the board edges. Tight sewing restricts opening to the gutter margins. Endbands missing.
Folio 1a, top bears a single impression of Edward Galley's smaller seal in one line, double ruled:
11 × 13 mm.
Folio 1a, bottom, bears a small circular impression bearing the name of Muḥammad ‘Alī in two stacked lines, double ruled:
~14
Folio 1a, middle, bears an obliterated rectangular impression, single-ruled:
19 × 23 mm.
Folio 202a, right of the colophon, bears a partially legible single oval impression in two lines, double-ruled, which references the Safavid ruler Sulaymān I, Shah of Iran (b. ca. 1658, r. 1666–1694):
‘باشد(؟) سر فخر بر مهر ماه * (؟) را از لطف سلیمان شاه ۱۰۷’ 12 × 18 mm.
Folio 202a, right of the colophon, bears a single oval impression in two lines, double ruled, which references the Qajar ruler Fatḥ ‘Alī Shāh Qājār (b. 1772, r. 1797–1834):
‘علی فاتح مهرانی علم(؟) مهر شد(؟)’ 12 × 18 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently owned or inspected by at least four individuals: one whose immolated seal impression appears on page 1, another who wrote a biographical account of the author adjacent to a seal impression bearing the name of Muḥammad ‘Alī, as well as two other seal impressions on page 202a, including one dated 1107 AH (1695–96 CE) that mentions Safavid ruler Sulaymān I (b. 1648, r. 1666–1694), and another referencing Fatḥ ‘Alī Shāh Qājār (b. 1772, r. 1797–1834).
Later acquired by by Edward Galley (ca. 1750–1804), East India Company Resident at Bushire (Bushehr), Iran between 1780 to 1787, where he possibly aquired this volume. Ultimately Collector-General of Surat, India where he passed away, Galley's executors subsequently sold his library there; however, the identity of the purchaser and circumstances of the volume's arrival in Britain remain unclear (see Robinson, p. 209).
Probably the same manuscript listed by London bookseller Henry George Bohn (1796–1884) in his 1841 catalogue, no. 13618, described as ...poems on the Soofy, or mystical doctrines of the Persians" which comports with the note in Galley's hand on left doublure in double columns, on 610 pages of very stout paper, highly glazed. The first three pages are adorned with very curious and early illuminations, native binding, 2£ 12s 6d.
Possibly purchased from Bohn by orientalist Duncan Forbes (1798–1868) acquired it from an unidentified source. Ultimately appointed King's College Professor of Oriental Languages, Forbes described this volume in his 1866 catalogue, valued at £8 8s (also inscribed on the right pastedown), before he sold his manuscript collection to his publisher W. H. Allen & Co. in exchange for an annuity.
Subsequently sold by W. H. Allen & Co. to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866 for his Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2024 with reference to the manuscript in hand.
Availability
To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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